Sport

Anthony Ireland rejoins Gloucestershire on loan from Middlesex

First published
in Sport
by Rob Iles, Sports editor covering the Thornbury, Dursley and Yate areas

ANTHONY IRELAND has rejoined Gloucestershire from Middlesex until the end of the season.

The 27-year-old seam bowler, who previously enjoyed a four-year spell at the club, is playing in the second team fixture against Worcestershire this week with a view to being available for the next
LV=County Championship match against Yorkshire at Scarborough, starting on August 28.

Gloucestershire moved to bolster their bowling attack as Ian Saxelby, their leading wicket taker in all competitions, has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury that could
require surgery.

Director of cricket, John Bracewell, said: “Anthony has been told that he is not part of the long term plans at Middlesex, who have kindly released him to us on loan.

“It will be handy to have someone with miles under his belt in terms of experience and who knows our systems pretty well.

Ireland, who used to play club cricket for Thornbury, represented Zimbabwe in 26 one-day internationals before signing for Gloucestershire as a Kolpak player in 2007, but he was part of a mass
exodus at the end of the 2010 season when he left along with fellow seamers Steve Kirby and Gemaal Hussain.

His last Championship appearance for Middlesex was against Gloucestershire at Uxbridge at the end of June.